Windows Agent backup FileMaker databases?

[skprmark]

WE run a lot of Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 servers using FileMaker database server. Normally when the FileMaker server has the database in a running or normal state the file is locked by the FileMaker server. This means if you try and copy the file or delete it you cannot. Windows just tells you the file is in use by another service.

Question: How might this be handled by the Windows Backup Agent. I know if can backup say SQL files when they are running. Does anyone know if it can backup FileMaker databases as well?

Thanks
skprmark

[Dima P.]

Hi skprmark,

Can you please clarify what DB is used for your FileMaker application?

[skprmark]

Dima,

It is a FileMaker database. It is their own system and these database can only run on FileMaker server. We host 20K+ FileMaker databases on our networks all over the world and would like to switch over to Veeam for backup completely. Currently the other backup offerings cannot backup these databases. They just skip the database file because it is locked. While these databases do respond to SQL queries like most others they are not SQL databases. FileMaker is a very popular database platform because of its ease of use. It does not require the end user to know much about databases nor do they have to have any PHP or ASP coding capabilities because the database itself is the front end interface.

Mark

[Dima P.]

Mark,

In general, VAW performs backup by using Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy technology, so it should handle the locked files perfectly. Since we are talking about DB here (and DBs usually require additional attention), I’d still recommend to perform a test backup and recovery on a server with file maker installed (you can use trial version for that). Please do not forget to share the details.

[Mike Resseler]

Mark,

On top of that, make sure you run a script first to take a file-backup of the database as it is advised by FileMaker itself. That "dump" of the database will be taken to the backup also and will always give you a consistent method of restoring the database
Cheers
Mike

[skprmark]

Mike,

I am already doing a dump of all databases before the backups run. FIleMaker server automates that in its scheduling capabilities.

I will run some tests on a FileMaker server to see if databases running live that are backed up by Veeam can be restored without an issue and post the results.

Mark

[Mike Resseler]

That would be great and very much appreciated!

Thanks Mark!

[cathym]

Curious the outcome of the tests as we are looking to do the same thing with VAW and FileMaker Pro ourselves. Thanks!

[Egor Yakovlev]

Hello everyone!
FileMaker documentation explicitly says: "Don’t use third-party backup software on hosted FileMaker Pro databases. First, use FileMaker Server to make a backup copy of your database, then run your third-party backup software on the copy." [link]
Thing is, FM Database is not VSS-aware, thus block-level backup of a live DB might cause backup file to contain database files in an unstable state. It is recommended to backup FM backup files instead, those created and scheduled within application [link].
I would follow FileMaker Documentation and use Veeam Agent for Windows to backup stable FM dumps and create additional copies!
/Cheers!